• Choose an issue recently covered in the news faced by a business in the United States.
• Discuss the issue involved.
• Explain how the law and constitution were applied in the resolution.

Note from Professor:

How about a little help getting started with this discussion? The question asks you to identify a constitutional issue that applies to business and how the law and the Constitution were applied to resolve it. OK, what is a constitutional issue?There are many legal issues that are not necessarily constitutional.

I think

we need to start with an understanding of what the Constitution is and how it

works. The United States Constitution was adopted by the thirteen original

states in 1789. Note it is not 1776 as that is the date of the Declaration of

Independence, an entirely different document.

The

Constitution does a couple of basic things. First, it sets out the manner in

which the federal government functions and the powers, duties, and

responsibilities of the three branches of government, the legislative branch

(Congress), the executive branch (the President), and the judicial branch (the

federal court system). Second, it defines the rights of citizens upon which the

government cannot intrude and needs to respect.These rights are nominally

expressed in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, and elsewhere, i.e.

the Thirteenth Amendment that abolishes slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment

that guarantees equal protection and due process.

Now that

we have a basic understanding of the workings of the Constitution how does it

affect business? Let me give you a recent example. You may have heard about the

case of Masterpiece

Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Here is a link to the

opinion of the US Supreme Court. See: Masterpiece

Cakeshop . Jack Phillips, a baker and owner of the Masterpiece Cake

Shop was asked by a gay couple to bake a custom cake for their upcoming

wedding. He refused as it would be a violation of his religious beliefs. Know

that the gay couple could have purchased any of the other baked goods available

to the public in his bakery.

The constitutional

conflict here is between the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First

Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment embodied

in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and additional civil rights laws of Colorado.

The court held that Mr. Phillips was well within his rights to refuse to create

the cake, as it is an artistic expression. The freedom of religion trumped the

equal protection clause. The cake was not a matter of public accommodation that

requires equal protection and expressed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Read

the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment closely for the freedom of

religion and the right of equal protection. After you have done that, read the

entire Constitution, it is only about six thousand words and has a very important

impact on your life.

This is

just one example of how the Constitution applies to business and how the

conflict is resolved. If you want a good link to excellent articles regarding

the Constitution and its inner working visit the National Constitution Center

at National Constitution Center. Can you find

some other examples of a constitutional issue faced by a business?There

are many. What do you think? Feel free to reply.